Michelle Kirton

How & Why Make Your Own Coconut Milk

Dear Friend,Are you on a non-dairy journey? A journey that values eating whole foods and organic food as much as possible? Do you have a family and are trying to balance a budget at the same time? This has been our family for the last few years and along the way I discovered how to make our own coconut milk. I also learned so many great reasons why making your own coconut milk is a wonderful answer. I hope you find this article helpful and invite you to share it with other family and friends! ​ You can also like my FB page to follow my family's current healthy lifestyle journey!Love,Michelle

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Why Make Your Own Coconut Milk

Typically people either make homemade almond milk or coconut milk. Some of the reasons to make coconut milk come when comparing the process to making almond milk. Other reasons to make coconut milk come when comparing it to buying a non-dairy milk.

When you make almond milk you first have to soak the almonds for 8 or so hours, but there is no soaking involved with coconut milk. Thus, I love that the turnaround time for making coconut milk is so much faster and less of a process.

We really try to eat organic as much as possible and organic coconut is much easier to find and much cheaper than organic almonds. Trader Joe's sells organic coconut for $1.99 (8 oz, almost 2 cups worth) and organic almonds for $7.99 (12 oz, almost 3 cups worth).

After you make coconut milk you are left with a by product that can be used like coconut flour in other recipes. This also saves money in having to buy less gluten-free flour.

1 half gallon (8 cups) of non-dairy milk averages about $2.99 in cost. The standard recipe for making coconut milk is 1 cup shredded coconut per 4 cups of water. Thus, you can make 1 half gallon of coconut milk for $2, a 33.3% savings of a $1 per half gallon.

That being said time is money, especially when you are a mom. So... to me a $1 savings per half gallon is not the game changer for me, it is the fact that I can actually get ORGANIC coconut milk for cheaper. Most non-dairy milk on the market is not organic and if you are lucky enough to find it, it is often even more than $2.99. So, being able to put another organic whole food in my home and do so for a cheaper price is a wonderful win!

Coconut milk is also our preferred non-dairy milk because it is really creamy and does much better in coffee than almond milk. We can warm and froth coconut milk to make an awesome non-dairy latte, where almond milk doesn't get as frothy and sometimes curdles in coffee.

Most non-dairy milks, even the organic ones have tons of gums and other ingredients in them that I just don't think our body is meant to digest (check out the label on the one you currently have, you wouldn't believe it!). It is the gums that allow companies to make a half gallon of creamy non-dairy milk that doesn't separate. In a time in history where so many people drink non-dairy milk and have digestive issues, I just don't think all of the gums and added ingredients are helping us out. (This statement however is just my humble personal opinion please don't take it as fact.)

So why make your own coconut milk?You can have organic non-dairy milk without gums/other ingredients in your home for less money. It is a blessing that it actually saves money to go this route, but even more so about being able to have the best healthiest option in our home.

Turn nut milk bag inside out over your bowl and use a spatula to scrap coconut pulp out of bag. Then you can transfer the pulp to a smaller container.

Store coconut milk in the fridge. Shake before use.

Store coconut pulp in fridge or freezer to be used like coconut flour in baking. If you are going to use within three days fridge, if will use in more than three days store in the freezer. I add multiple batches of coconut pulp to my container and store in the freezer. Once I have at least a cup I defrost and throw in a baking recipe.

NOTES:

Remember this milk doesn't have gums or other ingredients in it so it will separate into liquid and solid in the fridge. Just shake it before use.

1 cup of coconut to 1 cup of water is the basic recipe. If you like things more creamy you can use a 1 : 3 ratio instead. If you are like me and don't care if your milk is more watery (you just want to save money and time) you can actually stretch to a 1 : 5 ratio.

Trader Joe's has a fabulous price for organic coconut ($1.99 for 8 oz, about 2 cups). You can get about 8 cups (half a gallon) out of one bag using a 1 : 4 ratio.

I hope you enjoyed this article! Please feel free to share with others who may find it helpful!